I am a 6th year student in the university of Debrecen medical and health science center. I am privileged to be part of the IFMSA community, and have an amazing opportunity to engage in a research program with the physics department of Democritus University, Alexandroupoli, Greece.

   Thanks to the organization I was able to register and get everything sorted, I spent a month in Greece spanning from 31st of August till 2nd of October 2018. I met other incomings from other countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Montenegro, Croatia, Egypt, Iraq, Jourdan just to name a few. We were arranged accommodation and we had a social program set out already for us.

 I had the opportunity to pick the specific program I was interested in and the title of my program which was; Curation and evaluation of a novel risk factor evidence based model and repository for prediction, prevention and informed decision in lifestyle related diseases. It wasn’t what I expected, but I learnt and gained new skills in this aspect.

The most important aspect of my exchange in Greece was learning about the culture, no two people in the world are the same or have the same ideas. The main reason for this is because everyone is an individual with their own perceptions. In addition, another reason is because of the culture they have grown up in and learned to accept. One’s cultural perception has a huge impact on their idea of beauty. Each cultural group has invented their own ideas to reflect their natural idea of beauty.

The statement that we are all unique is Indeed right, the beauty of it all is that our culture is our identity. There wasn’t that many culture shocks for me except the fact that there were many stray dogs which took a while for me to get adjusted to .

H“The experience in the hospital was very amazing students, doctors and in the research lab, the space was very conducive for learning and well grounded all together.

We had our international day of food and drinks and I had an amazing time trying out different cuisines from all around, the experience left a huge smile on my face and in my tummy.

In conclusion my trip was a life changing experience.